I have a 1994 Chevy Corsica, which while it’s idling in drive will every now and then hiccup, or cough. It doesn’t die, just that little hiccup. When I’m on the highway, and have it up to about 55 or 60 m.p.h., it will cough major–maybe it’s more like an asthma attack. It never dies, but I’m afraid that it will.
I’m going tonight so my brother can replace the plugs and plug wires, hoping that will help with the cough, but I was hopping to get some reassurance beforehand that it will help and resolve the problem. I’ve had the car for about 3 yrs, and have never replaced the plugs/wires, and it’s got about 130K miles on it.
So…how about those reassurances? <insert desperate smilie here>
My wife had a 93 Corsica with the exact same symtoms. I am assuming yours is a V-6 model which has 3 ignition coils. On my wife’s car, the coil that powers cylinders 2 and 5 became intermittant and would cause the coughing you describe. After a few weeks if finally died and the car would run pretty rough. I tried a wrecking yard coil and it lasted only a few days. I then had the car checked with a dianostic tester and the engine control module was defective. $300 later the car ran like new. Unfortunately, she was rear ended a few weeks later and the car was totalled.
Drat. I was hoping to avoid shelling out the $20 each for two new ignition coils. According to the fix-it manual for the car, replacing the coils are relatively easy (two screws on each), but still, an extra $40 expense at this time of the year hits hard.